4 Jul 2010

Sunny ride through Telemark and Buskerud

Cell phone alarm started ringing at 8.00 AM. Couldn't wake up. Decided to count up to 25 and think then what to do next. I've ended up counting up to 150...

The problem is that yesterday I went to bed almost at 2 AM. Always happens the same to me, it takes an awful lot of time posting pics and writing reports on the road!

I've finished the apple juice I bought yesterday in the petrol station, loaded everything on the bike and just before 10 AM I was heading to road 41.

Wanted to see a bit of the interior of Norway and according to the map this road was going to be beautiful.

Weather couldn't be any better. Sunny, no clouds and a bit chilly.

At the beginning I was a bit disappointed with the road. One village was sticking to the other and speed limits were of 40-50 Km. My God! But things improved quickly. Less and less villages and road going up and getting twisty.

Suddendly I see the first 'beware of elks' sign. That's a 'must have' pic! So I've stopped and taken the coveted photo. Yeiii...

Road was getting better and better and landscape nicer and nicer. Wide (and not very deep) river making 'lake-like' shapes and lots of conifers. I've never been in Alaska or Canada but I guess it must look similar...

Around midday I was starving so decided to have a picnic.

I stopped in one of the many picnic areas around the Norwegian roads and enjoyed a couple of slices of Swiss bread (still in good condition!), olive oil from Southern Spain (can't eat bread without it!) and smoked beef meat from Switzerland (from the Graubunden!). Mmmmmm, everything was so tasty!

The only negative point: the bugs! Ugh, how many of them, what a pain! I wished several times I was a cow to have a tail to get rid of them...

I've had to stop several times to make pics. The landscape was beautiful.

Good decision having taken this road!

Once finished (in Brunkeberg), then I've taken a bit of the E134 and a bit of the 361 to get to road 40. In the map this one looked promising as well.

Reality: it was OK, but 41 wass better!

I have to say that both of them (40 and 41) were not in a very good condition (to say it nicely). The route was great (endless smooth curves one after the other) but the surface was soooo bumpy!

But when I say bumpy I mean REALLY bumpy.

I was standing on the bike most of the time just to avoid the shakes due to the potholes...

Well, and not only for the potholes...

My butt was aching so much that I had to find some ways to make me feel better... (this special super-super-super low seat I have, helps me to reach the ground, but is killing my butt...). I know that in the next days it will get better, but the first trip days are hard!

One of the funniest part of road 40 is from Uvdal to Dagali. It climbs up to 1100 metres (ski station area) and has quite a few funny curves. Love going up the hill with the 1200, hahaha...

However, this stretch was the worst of the whole day in terms of bumps. My God, even for the GS some of them were too much...

I've arrived to Geilo around 18h and decided that I could call it a day so it was time to find somewhere to sleep.

One sign next to the road was advertising for appartments and decided to go for one. Best decision ever! For the same price as yesterday, today I got a full-equiped apartment for me (even bigger than the flat I've rented in Switzerland!).

The pitty was that I hadn't any 'cookable' food with me and. being Sunday 18h, nothing was open to get food.

So I went for a walk in town and ended up eating a huge hamburger in a local fast-food shop (1000 times better than the one yesterday at MD).

With my belly full, went back to the apartment, had a relaxing shower and started my daily homework.

Numbers of the day: 440 Km ridden, 8.5h hours on the road (picnic and quick visit to Uvdal Stave church included).